Greek word · G985

βλαστάνω

blastanō

to sprout

To sprout, bud or shoot up (without an object); less often, to make something sprout or to produce it (with an object).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated November 15, 2026

What it means

βλαστάνω,

[in LXX for צמח, etc. ;]

2. In late Gk., causal, to make to grow, produce: with accusative, James 5:18.

† (AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: To sprout, bud or shoot up (without an object); less often, to make something sprout or to produce it (with an object).
Against the English: KJV 'brought forth', BSB 'yielded', WEB and NIV 'produced', ESV 'bore'. All are fine. None quite keeps the picture of green shoots coming up out of ground that had been dead.
Used elsewhere in the period: Without an object elsewhere in the New Testament: the wheat 'sprouted' (Matthew 13:26), the seed 'sprouts' (Mark 4:27), Aaron's rod 'that budded' (Hebrews 9:4). With an object, as here, in the Greek of Genesis 1:11: 'Let the earth sprout vegetation.'

Range of meaning: Intransitive: to sprout, shoot, bud. Transitive: to make something sprout, to produce (e.g. 'the earth produced its fruit', James 5:18). βλαστάω is a later Greek form of the same verb.
Against the English: 'Sprouts' (BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB), 'spring' or 'spring up' (KJV, WEB, YLT). All are accurate.
Used elsewhere in the period: Genesis 1:11 in Greek: 'let the earth sprout (blastēsatō) vegetation of grass (chortou)'. Numbers 17:8: Aaron's staff 'sprouted' overnight in the tent of meeting, a growth that only God could cause (recalled in Hebrews 9:4). James 5:18: after Elijah's prayer 'the earth sprouted its fruit.'

Matthew · 1

Matthew 13:26 ἐβλάστησεν sprouted

When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

Here: The crop broke through the soil and grew up. The verb is a simple past summarising the event, describing the stalk's growth as a completed stage of the season.

Mark · 1

Mark 4:27 βλαστᾷ may sprout

Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.

Here: 'Sprouts.' The seed breaks open and puts up a shoot. Now the seed is the subject of the action, not the man. The word echoes Genesis 1:11 in Greek: 'let the earth sprout.'

Hebrews · 1

Hebrews 9:4 βλαστήσασα having budded

containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Here: Aorist participle, 'that sprouted', pointing to a single past event. The verb is the one used in Numbers 17:8 (Greek 17:23), where the dead staff buds, blossoms and bears almonds overnight to show that God had chosen Aaron as priest.

James · 1

James 5:18 ἐβλάστησεν produced

Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.

Here: 'Made sprout, put forth.' Usually this verb means 'to sprout' with no object; here the land itself is the subject that sends up its crop, as in God's creation command 'Let the earth sprout vegetation' (Genesis 1:11, Greek). It is a picture of dead ground coming back to life.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.